Mosaic Review

Posted on May 23, 2026 by dreager1

It’s time for another old school superhero film. Although in a way it may be more apt to call this one a mystery thriller that would have led into a superhero sequel. There isn’t quite as much action as in the Condor but you do have a whole lot of characters running around and setting up plots for the future. There is a good amount of world building in here and it would have been nice to see what kind of expanded universe we might have had. I guess that’ll have to be something that you can only dream about for now though.

The film starts by introducing us to Maggie who is finally achieving her dream of being a big actress. Her father is skeptical of the career though and wants her to keep studying in school so she can get a real job. Unfortunately his career as an interpol agent is quite dangerous and he is defeated by a mysterious shapeshifting alien. Maggie is also inadvertently blasted with the powers of the chameleon during a thunderstorm so now she can turn invisible and shapeshift.

A crisis rarely comes when you expect it and so now she will have to do her best to master these powers and stop the alien threat. She meets a guy named Mosaic who will help her out but he has the same powers and may not be trustworthy. Maggie will end up learning the truth behind these “aliens” and these truths threaten to change the course of human history itself.

Like I said, there’s a lot of world building here. We learn a whole lot about these chameleon creatures and all of the events that lead up to the present. We also get a quick reference to the Condor and other heroes running around. It’s a big world that just got a whole lot bigger but there isn’t a whole lot of time to get into that.

The main adventure is really about Maggie getting used to her powers and making sure that these villains can’t target her father again. Her abilities are really handy all around. Who wouldn’t want to be able to shape shift or turn invisible right? This gives her a big advantage over the average crook even if it doesn’t help as much in this one since everybody has the same abilities. Hers are slightly heightened in that she can tell when someone else is a shapeshifter as well though.

Maggie is a nice character and an easy main character to root for. She knows when it is time to take action into her hands and throw caution to the winds. Sometimes you have to do that in order to save the day and plunge ahead. The government actually seems to mean well in this story so far but it would take way too long to explain everything to them so I completely understand why Maggie had to plunge on ahead without worrying about any of that. Getting out of the Interpol chief’s car and making a break for it was the right move. The film also explained how she went out of her way to learn a lot of fighting styles so it makes sense why she is able to get into the action so easily.

Meanwhile her best friend Stephan is secretly in love with her. The problem is that the poor guy can’t bring himself to tell her this and so he always lags behind and allows himself to be in the friend zone. He either needs to say something or just be honored to be her friend. The secret crush always ends up making one party look bad because it’s sort of spoiling all of the friendship moments. Maggie really thinks that Stephan is her friend and so she is able to share her excitement at being cast in the shows and all without any reservations. If Stephan confesses and she doesn’t like him like that, well it’s going to get awkward.

I’d also argue that the film goes out of its way to show that she considers him as just a friend with how she acts around Mosaic. Mosaic is one of those very suave characters who seems to have a way with the ladies and is also an excellent agent on the side. That said, he is a lot weaker than you’d expect. You could say that most of his fight scenes weren’t really fair but honestly I could only give him so many excuses before I had to shake my head. He is just not star material.

There’s one scene where he gets effortlessly knocked down, then he gets up only to be combo’d back to the ground. Mosaic then gets up for a third time before they just hold him down. I appreciate the resilience but you have to have some kind of a plan. Not just getting up to be knocked down once again. I wasn’t super impressed with Mosaic as you can guess but they did have to move fast to get him out of the way. If the film was longer then he would have definitely had more hype scenes.

Meanwhile Maniken worked well as the main villain. He’s definitely got a real intimidating design all the way through. He is also strong and has a very specific plan so it’s not like he’s just trying to destroy the world. I was satisfied with having him as the big boss at least. Maggie’s father actually put up a decent struggle against him at first. He just made the classic mistake of forgetting that being invisible doesn’t mean you’re intangible in most cases. I feel like you should just start firing all around or throwing punches. Instead characters always freeze up while the invisible menace just walks over and finishes the job.

That’s why I’m giving a special shoutout to the cop at the very beginning of the film who actually kept his calm and fired the gun at Maniken. He was even able to get the magic gem away from him as a result. Usually the cops in these films miss every shot and never even get close so this was a real nice change of pace. The Interpol chief also looked good and was trying to be supportive. Down the road I could see her helping Maggie out but there will probably always be some tension since you never know when the gov will turn you in for testing.

The animation was solid enough. The character designs are good and the action is on point. I liked the invisibility effect and all in all the animation was very streamlined. There weren’t big chunks where you were wondering what happened to the budget or anything like that. The soundtrack is a bit more on the forgettable side. Nothing to write home about anyway.

Overall, This was a good film. I don’t think it will go down as being super memorable though. I didn’t have any specific issues but it is a little slow paced so on the rewatch that may hurt to an extent. The characters are always looking around because of how many people are actually alien shapeshifters. I enjoy that kind of tension but naturally it won’t hit as hard the second time around. The sequels would have been in a great place now that Maggie is confident in her powers though, maybe they will at least do a comic sequel to it someday. In the meanwhile I would recommend this one, it’s a fun watch.

Overall 6/10

Tron: Ares Review

Posted on May 23, 2026 by dreager1

Tron has returned for a new adventure! It’s definitely good to see the franchise make a comeback because it’s been way too long since the last film. While this one isn’t quite able to match that legend, this is a very good movie with a good amount of action. We finally get to see the cyber world enter the real one and for once the army actually looks rather decent. I was glad that they didn’t just go down immediately. I’d like to see more films after this one but unfortunately it sounds like another long gap is going to appear instead.

The film starts off by explaining that ENCOM no longer owns the monopoly on the digital world. Dillinger Systems is closing in fast and now both of them are competing to take the decisive advantage. The only way to do this is to find a way to finally allow the cyber world to enter the real one. Both of them are able to pull this off for 30 minutes, but they need the permanence code to pull this off. Julian Dillinger creates a master program named Ares who aims to use to find the code or to break into ENCOM and steal it from them. His hunch was correct as the head of ENCOM, Eve, has found this code. She must try to escape from Ares long enough to pull it off but does she have the strength to stay alive?

In a way the first part is a bit like Terminator here as you have the powerful cyber fighters trying to assassinate this one human. At first they need her alive in order to get the code but that’s not always the gameplan. Additionally since they can stay in the real world for 30 minutes and can be respawned as many times as needed, the humans are at a disadvantage. Eve may know how to keep these digital people in the real world indefinitely but it’s a very small comfort when she has no fighters on her side.

The film doesn’t go in this direction but it would have been nice to have seen her summon Tron or something like that. He would have been a powerful asset for the hero side. Eve means well though and does want to make the world a better place. She just doesn’t want this breakthrough to be used for evil. After all if you can create infinite guns, bombs, and robotic soldiers then this will be desired by all kinds of bad actors. The good effects are that you can now have infinite food to solve world hunger, ways to revolutionize medicine, etc.

So the effects of this film will greatly change the world no matter who wins. The film doesn’t really focus on the ramifications of this though. There’s just not really enough time and that would be more for a sequel. Eve is a solid heroine though. She may have taken a little time to really take Julian’s ambitions seriously, but she was able to outsmart Eve during their first fight and did well to keep on staying alive.

As for Julian, well he’s your classic corporate villain. The guy is super cocky and arrogant when he is in control but really starts to panic once the shoe is on the other foot. The guy wants to win at any cost and so he will break as many rules as he feels is necessary to make things go his way. This ends up being rather easy for him in general since Ares gives him a huge leg up over all of the other programs. He never ends up being all that interesting though and the computer villains are definitely more fun. Julian’s also the kind of villain who is creating his own problems since Ares would have absolutely been more loyal if Julian wasn’t transparently antagonizing him throughout the whole film.

Ares is a fun character who takes decisive action right away. He realizes that Julian sees him as expendable and decides to do something about it. He was introduced as being a really strong fighter and he proves that quite a few times during the film. I would have liked for there to have been more of a focus on fight scenes as opposed to general action ones but in either case Ares is always at the top of the class.

I’d say his character arc ends up going a little fast. I would have liked for him to have kept a bit of an edge but at the end of the day I suppose he was just more heroic than Julian would have predicted. I also think the way the film ends leaves a lot of room for his character to go in any direction. You can’t really stop technological progress though and so I fully expect him to have a big role in the next film. If there aren’t a bunch of other programs in the real world by that point then something went wrong.

Eve is really the main villain here. She always had dreams of grandeur and was certainly not going to settle for being 2nd best for long. Her confidence tends to outweigh her skill though. The only times she is winning is when the heroes are at a huge disadvantage. She had the right idea in summoning everyone for the climax though. At that point there isn’t really anything to lose. I also think it would be a really interesting to have an army of extremely powerful fighters who can only exist for 30 minutes going up against the armies of the world. They are strong enough to make a dent but the time limit and constant respawning is a big weakness.

The old characters get a cameo here and there but you shouldn’t expect anything more than that. It would have been really cool to see the characters from the second film show up but I do get how they would probably end up stealing the whole film. The guy from the first film is around but I feel like those scenes don’t have as much of an impact at this point. Maybe it was just the timing though, I wanted to go back to the real world instead of hearing a quick music debate.

The soundtrack for the film is really good as you would expect. A lot of really solid electronic themes going on and they absolutely fit the atmosphere that the film is going for. The end themes actually sounded like something out of Stranger Things but for the midway point and action scenes it would be the Tron that you’ve come to expect. This is a soundtrack that is very loud and unique so I appreciate that. It’s very memorable and that’s part of the Tron experience.

The special effects in general are really good. There is always a lot going on and I love the way that the digital world looks. We also get the classic Lightcycle battle which is a staple for the series. It does make you wish there was more of it though. I think that will always be the hard balance trying to have some human scenes while also giving more time to the Grid. Legacy was more about the Grid so this one’s more about the human parts.

Overall, Tron: Ares is at its best when it is showing off all of the cool digital effects. I always like seeing the battles there and the concepts are also interesting. In this case the members of the Grid are clearly able to feel and emote so they even mourn their fallen allies. If they all start to be sentient, then that’s definitely going to lead to problems in the real world. You may not be as engaged in the company vs company stuff but the film has really quick pacing so there are no points where any of this is dragging on. The whole adventure really ends before you know it with constant danger around every corner. Even if you haven’t seen a Tron film before you should be able to get into this one without any issues. I’d say that it’s very new viewer friendly.

Overall 7/10

The Condor Review

Posted on May 17, 2026 by dreager1

It’s time for one of those superhero films that has a pretty snazzy name but it didn’t actually go very well. Nobody’s really heard of this film and it’s too bad because it had some good elements. I do see where the film did make a lot of mistakes though so it’s certainly not the next Avengers. I would have watched sequels to this one though. The film is surprisingly short and wraps up in the blink of an eye.

The movie starts off with the cops chasing a bank robber. The guy has on some kind of a head piece that gives him super speed. The cops still catch up though and then the robber runs out of juice and dies. Seems like this has been happening more and more often, clearly there is a master manipulator behind the scenes who is orchestrating all of this. What could his end goal be? Well, the film then takes us to our main character, Tony. Tony is one of the best skaters around and is looking to defend his title for the 4th year in a row. He has some tough competition ahead of him but isn’t scared.

His father feels like Tony isn’t using his skills to their fullest though. Tony could be a total genius helping to make the world a better place. Right now the family is working on experimental technologies that can heal people and stop various negative affects across the planet. Tony admits that all he cares about is skating though and so he doesn’t even pay much attention when finding out that his parents are involved in some shady business. Tony’s friend has also gone in with the wrong crowd so there is a lot going on. Perhaps it is time for Tony to put on a uniform and become a superhero known as the Condor?

Right away I have to say that this film is really crazy. There are so many plots and characters running around the whole time but like I said, the film itself is pretty short. So the film has to try and juggle all of this. This results in some plots having to be rushed and others largely being left for a sequel. There was a lot of material here for a whole chunk of films to come out. Fortunately the film still works as a stand alone adventure as long as you just assume that the adventure goes on.

The weakest part of the film has to be the romance here. It’s one of those films where you quickly see how none of the guys are loyal and will fold to any assertive girl. This doesn’t just happen to Tony but to his friend and the Z Man. None can resist the charms of a beautiful lady and while it’s supposed to be funny or endearing, it just makes those guys look really bad.

Lets start with Tony, the “hero” of the story. First off, he is extremely quick to believe an out of context conversation that implicates his parents as criminals. He absolutely refuses to believe anything they say and as far as we know they have had a good relationship. It should not be possible for them to have been ripped apart so quickly and easily. Then Tony turns on his best friend Sammi constantly. She helps him out a lot throughout the film by giving him support, creating legs for him to walk again, etc.

Tony is incredibly ungrateful the whole time. Honestly Sammi should have walked away after a point because it was getting crazy. Now I don’t blame him as much for not noticing her in the romantic sense as the guy seems to be incredibly dense. She should have made a move if she wanted them to be together, but I do blame him for being super inconsistent. After he and Valeria are going out, Tony was still ready to start kissing Sammi at the drop of a hat. At that point that’s not a real romance, it just shows that he’ll enjoy any girl’s company and has no loyalty.

Tony is at his best when he’s skating or fighting. At least he gets a lot of good one liners there and isn’t afraid to go into fights where he is outnumbered. You may question how he is able to fight so well all of a sudden but that even goes for the villain for once. The main villain is shown to be able to fight on par with Tony while not having any super powers. You wonder how Tony can be having any trouble here when he is so much faster. Either Tony has no fighting skills or he has a bunch, you can’t really have it both ways.

For Sammi, well I wouldn’t say she was a great character either. She is still considerably better than Tony though. Sammi’s main issue here is the fact that she just expects Tony to pick up on things without telling him explicitly. That doesn’t really make sense considering how long they’ve known each other. She should have figured out by now that he’ll never pick up the hints so she can either ask him out or move on. In the film she does move on to rebound with the Z-Man but then quickly goes back to Tony. Rebounds like that are never good so she lost a lot of points there.

As for the Z-Man, well he seems like a nice enough guy. He’s a competitor and has some banter with Tony but just wants to have a clean fight. Unfortunately he’s also a bit of a player and can’t resist any lady who throws herself at him. This is definitely meant to be more of a gag but it also means that he is another guy who won’t be the definition of loyalty. He was also way too quick to support Tony and Sammi being together when he liked her. I guess it wasn’t a very strong relationship after all.

Tony’s “friend” Reuben is also pretty bad the whole way through. He gets bullied a lot and so you feel bad for him at first but then it turns out that he is constantly putting himself in bad spots. He decides to get involved in a poker game and uses money that he doesn’t have which resets the whole status. We also find out early on that he is the one who sabotaged Tony which was basically attempted murder. Reuben continues to go down from there and also shows himself to have no morals as he is easily seduced as well. I’m not sure exactly how sympathetic the film was hoping you would find him by the end but I can say that I was at 0%. This guy was just not reasonable at all.

As for Valeria, well she’s not a good character but you almost have to respect her confidence to a degree. She just walks up to whichever guy she wants and claims him. There is no resistance and based on her confidence she has yet to meet a guy who is able to resist her charms. I also thought that she was going to end up being super shallow and dump Tony once he was injured but she actually didn’t. She stuck with him throughout rehab.

So next I figured this was some kind of a trick…but no she actually seemed to like him. It’s possible that she just wanted him for his body but there’s no real way to say for sure. From what we can observe here, she actually ended up being far more loyal than any other character in the movie. Now who would have guessed that? Obviously she is crazy but when you are constantly seeing movie characters like Sammi being too afraid to express their feelings then it ends up being rather endearing. If she had just stuck to Tony and not tried this with anyone else, I would have had to give her my support. That is the kind of confidence you want to see from your girlfriend.

As for the animation, I’d say the fights are pretty solid. Nothing outstanding but the film has a very retro feeling to it with the animation. The strikes are clean and the battles tend to be long and smooth. The power levels are a bit wonky though. It feels like the super speed is very inconsistent in terms of how much of a boost it gives you. The best battles definitely tend to be when Condor is fighting his nemesis.

The characters aren’t very likable and some of them make the worst decisions you can think of. It never made any sense for the parents to be telling the villain that they’re onto him without some kind of a backup plan. I also thought that they handled the car chase poorly but you could argue that may be more of an animation limitation than what was intended. It looks like they could have sped up or at least tried a lot of turning to shake the villains off. By doing nothing it put them back in harm’s way.

The film does also fall into the fanservice issue. This is pretty rare for a superhero film I gotta say but it is frequent here. There are too many zoom ins and slow down effects when Valeria is around. Even the fight with Tony falls into this to a degree. In a way the animation doesn’t help here since they really made sure to do a good job with all of her scenes. A strong movie never has to rely on this kind of tactic. Throw away all the crazy romances along with the fanservice and you’d have a really strong title here.

Overall, The Condor is a good film but does have just enough issues where I can’t give it a higher score here. I like the idea behind it and would say this makes for a pretty good origin. I could easily see them building a whole franchise around this. That said, there are already so many different superhero franchises that you don’t really need any more. If you want to check out a one shot superhero adventure then I’d recommend checking this one out. It’s a special kind of chaotic that you don’t really see nowadays. Just don’t expect this to be the next Superman TV show in terms of quality.

Overall 6/10

Greenland 2: Migration Review

Posted on May 16, 2026 by dreager1

Greenland 2 is one of those films that will make less and less sense as you watch it but that’s okay. The main purpose of the film is just to let you have some fun with a bunch of action scenes. In fact I dare say it beats the first film. It does run a little long though. The runtime isn’t even that long technically but the pacing starts to die out as the main characters run into trouble after trouble. They really can’t go 5 minutes without having some kind of bad luck.

After the events of the first film, the world is in a really rocky spot. Almost all of humanity has already been wiped off the map and the survivors aren’t doing so well with the crazy amounts of radiation everywhere. There is really no escape….except for one last chance. A perfect oasis that was near the initial blast zone. If you can reach this place, you will be completely safe and will not have to worry about anything. Does such a place even exist though? It sounds almost too good to be true and often times places like that are just a way to give hope to those who have lost it. We’ll see if the journey ends up paying off this time.

What really sets the adventure off is when the island that the heroes are on begins to erupt as a volcano was dormant under it. So John and his family go on a long journey but right away I have to say that he was the only one looking good here. So his wife Allison is big on trying to do the heroic thing and having a clear conscience through what is a really tough situation. No problems on that but she takes it to very dangerous levels to where she would doom everyone. The concept here is called suicidal empathy.

For example we are shown at the beginning of the film that the emergency shelter is already at the breaking point. They only have enough food for maybe 2 weeks left and everyone is crammed in like sardines. John has been trying to find some food and materials for a long time but there has been no luck. The air outside is poisonous so they have to all wear air masks and everything. Well, another group has sent out a distress signal. The problem? The group has dozens and dozens of members within it. A group vote is held and Allison puts in enough pressure to win the vote. So now the shelter will have to accommodate an extra 50 people and there simply aren’t the resources for it.

The one guy who opposes this is treated like an antagonist throughout the film but his points really made sense. At that point you are just dooming everyone and Allison keeps this up throughout the movie. At one point everyone is running for the last 3 life boats. The first two end up toppling because too many people tried to go into them. The heroes manage to get onto the third boat and the driver explains that they have to go or their ship will topple over too. Despite this? Allison still says they should let everyone on, knowing that it would doom them all.

She just wasn’t a very practical character. Unfortunately I would say that she is realistic as a lot of people would feel the same way, no matter how bad of an idea it is. There is a time where you can still feel empathy but have to move on or everyone will be dead. She never really recovered from that showing. Still, it’s not like Allison is a villain or anything, she just ends up being an annoying ally.

Then we have the son, Nathan. He’s the classic teenage character who is just really bored. He wants adventure and so he goes outside even with the poison air everywhere because he can’t stand being cooped up. It makes him seem rather selfish but also short sighted. He could have easily spread some viruses throughout the shelter which is the whole reason why only one person is allowed outside and has to be thoroughly detoxed each time. Nathan also has a tendency to panic all the time. At one point they all have to cross a bridge but he keeps yelling about how he won’t and he’d rather just stay and die there. This is life or death, you have to cross the rope even if it’s hard.

Sure it may be easy to say that from behind the screen but I stand by it. Nathan was always slowing them down quite a bit. I’d have cut him some slack if it was because of the insulin issue but aside from a passing mention at the start, that stops being a thing. So as long as it’s just a fear that Nathan has to get past, I have to blame him 100%.

So John is really the best out of the main characters. I really liked the pragmatic government character but he technically doesn’t last very long. John is at least trying to save his family throughout and is actively sacrificing his safety in order to do that. He’s a good hero and that’s really all you need in order to make a quality character. John gets to show off his expert gunman skills as well during the movie. Without him the family would have had no shot.

I’ll give the film props for also completely changing the film’s location early on. We are at the emergency shelter just long enough where you think that a bunch of those characters are going to be sticking around during the movie. Despite that, they are all removed from the story after the heroes leave the base. That was pretty unexpected for me and I thought that it worked. Having a really small cast of just the main 3 characters was a good idea.

The action was also consistent and never let up. While I do think the film began to drag on just a tad bit by the end, I can’t say that it was uneventful. We got several gunfights and a whole lot of running around. It did feel like the film was perhaps being a bit too ambitious at times though. A lot of focus was put on the atmosphere being poisonous but it felt more like an empty threat because there were many times where the characters would be without their helmets and it wasn’t really a big deal. Then it turns out that the sacred land near the crater has no poison at all. In fact that somehow became the biggest oasis on the planet.

It’s not a plot hole as the film very explicitly talks about how we don’t really understand any of this because humanity isn’t really in a position to study it. It’s just a bit convenient. I don’t really see how this land would not have been destroyed by now. Yes, an army is protecting it but with the whole world seeking shelter, that just wouldn’t last long. This isn’t a story that will hold up too well so the important thing is to just have fun in the moment. That is something that the movie is good at.

I was skeptical going into this film because I never thought that Greenland would really need a sequel. It felt like this would just be stretching a premise past the breaking point. At least by making it involve the rest of the world and an actual war, that made things pretty eventful. The writing is also good and most of my complaints about the characters being annoying are not the kinds of things that would actually lower the score of the film. Same with the inconsistent world building and such. They’re elements that are fun to make fun of and note, but don’t actually hurt my enjoyment of the movie.

Overall, Greenland 2 is definitely a good film. I won’t call it a great one or anything like that but I wasn’t bored. The movie kept my attention all the way through and there weren’t any parts that took me out of it because I thought the writing was super bad or anything. The ending is definitely pretty weak though. That’s one thing the film could have done better with because it just isn’t satisfying. It’s the kind of ending that feels standard in a bad way and also heavily limits the potential of a third film.

Overall 6/10

Fate/strange Fake Review

Posted on May 10, 2026 by dreager1

This is a show that really took a long time to come out. Initially there was a pilot episode/movie and then the product vanished. Well, I can safely say that the show did end up being worth the wait. The animation is through the roof and it has ended up being one of the most interesting Fate titles. They are really throwing in figures from all kinds of factions and having the Grail War take place in America this time is pretty hype. I’ll be eagerly awaiting the conclusion to this one.

The series starts by introducing us to a lot of the masters and servants who will be participating in the war. A grail war is a battle where various mages summon heroic legends from the past. These “heroes” are figures of great renown, not necessarily folks who all fight for justice. Each master will then fight along with their summoned servant to destroy all of the others. Typically there are 7 masters and 7 servants in a grail war. The winner will then receive the Holy Grail which allows them to make any wish come true. This grail war feels different from the start though. In a way it’s like some kind of a strange fake. The rules are all in flux and somehow there are 14 masters and 14 servants this time. That’s going to get confusing….who will come out on top?

One thing that’s always been fun about Fate is getting to decide who you want to root for. To an extent I would say Stay/Night is an exception as the first main product. You’re meant to root for Shirou Emiya in that one. For the others like Zero and Apocrypha you get to pick which master you believe to be the most worthy. This anime takes the same approach. While the various masters range from heroic to evil, only one can be the victor. The others will all be doing their best to murder all of the opposition so even the most heroic ones will need to draw blood. There can be no mercy on the battlefield.

I’ll go through each of the masters and servants here. Before that lets just go over the technical elements. Like I mentioned, the graphics are incredible here. The fights all look phenomenal and the fact that people even compare them to the Ufotable battles of previous anime show how impressive they are. The characters all have their own fighting styles and they really show up over the course of battle. While there is occasionally some downtime in the show, you could say that a big portion of it is for the fights and they do not disappoint.

The soundtrack is also top notch with each character getting their own theme. Unfortunately the main Saber has the worst one. It’s not as if this happens often but it is interesting that it’s happened twice now as the main character of Cardfight Overdress had the worst character theme as well. There seems to be this thought that the main character needs to have a super heroic theme. While I agree that it should be heroic to an extent, but you can let the character have a little style to it. Put it this way, Saber’s theme is the only one that I won’t be listening to on Youtube while I play the others quite a lot. In particular I would say that Jester has the best theme.

The writing is also excellent as you would expect. The fate titles are no strangers to a ton of strategic dialogue throughout as every character plans and plans for every eventuality. It’s a big part of what makes the shows to intriguing. There are alliances here and you really can’t trust anyone. Each of the characters would likely betray each other under the right circumstances. It’s important to keep that in mind so that you aren’t manipulated.

One issue the series starts to run into as it goes on is the Sengoku Basara effect. The characters are all in a lot of life and death battles but then somehow they keep finding ways to survive. Fights are interrupted a whole lot to preserve the hype on both sides. This starts to be a bit noticeable when the show is almost over and everyone is still running around. Even by the very ending, 2 of the possible “deaths” aren’t confirmed yet as we don’t see the bodies vaporize into spirit energy. Usually this means that a big comeback is imminent.

It’s not a problem yet as it all depends on the ending but I do think it would have been nice to have taken more fighters out of the picture by this point in the story. You don’t want to be in the final 6 episodes and you’ve still got over 20 participants running around. It’ll make the ending feel a little rushed when it didn’t need to be. I assume we won’t have any guest stars interfering since there wouldn’t be much time for that but it’s still a possibility until the ending with characters like Shiro and Rin being referenced. Personally I feel like Shirou should be able to do some damage here even with how broken these servants are.

Okay so lets get into the characters now. First up we have Ayaka who really does not want to be involved in this war. Unfortunately for her she does not have much of a choice in the matter. The instant Saber showed up to save her, the chances of leaving this place were next to nothing. She has some kin of a cryptic backstory and there are quite a few mysteries surrounding her. As it stands she is one of the least interesting masters though. The reluctant types are usually not my favorite characters. The situation absolutely sucks for her of course but I feel like she needed to just focus after a few episodes. When you have crazy creatures all around you, it’s nice to have a bodyguard.

As for her servant Saber, he’s a really fun character. He’s the kind of guy who likes building others up and always wields his royal authority in a kind way. He takes each character’s personality in stride and tends to have great banter all around the board. Saber is also a man who clings strongly to his ideals and isn’t led astray so easily. At one point another character tries to destroy the faith he has in King Arthur and fails completely. Saber may not have had a solid wish for the grail for most of the series but he was still an easy character to root for. You could argue that he is easily the most heroic servant of the group even though he hints at darker things that have been done in his past.

Then we have Tine who has been preparing for this grail war her whole life. Her whole clan have powered her up for this mission and she summons Gilgamesh, known as the king of heroes. She is surprisingly not as confident as you would expect but she does have to deal with the king who has the biggest ego. In a way, working with him ends up making her more timid in general since it’s just hard to keep up with the guy. I do think she could have done a lot better during the actual battles though as she mainly just watches the whole time. Of course when you have the most powerful servant that is usually a decent option.

As for Gilgamesh himself, well the guy is definitely a beast in combat. I always enjoy just how overconfident he is. Nearly all of his lines are either praising himself or dissing opponents. After all that tough talk you do have to perform though and his biggest weakness seems to be the fact that everyone just no sells his weapons all the time. He has a home run type of weapon that he uses for last ditch efforts but until then he just doesn’t appear to be as dominating as he should. The guy bring a lot of hype moments though and for better or worse he is still my favorite character. The guy just elevates every scene that he’s in.

Then we have a wolf who is one of the masters. That was definitely a surprise but hey that makes him easy to root for. Animals are pure of heart and have no crazy motives. He just wants to live a happy and quiet life. He ends up with one of the most powerful servants in Enkidu as well. This guy is able to hold his own against Gilgamesh and the power set also seems kind of similar. The whole planet is his tool to wield in combat. It would be nice if Enkidu were a more proactive fighter though. It seems like his advantages will slip away if he just sticks to the back and lets the other fighters get stronger. For now there has not been anybody who could really put any pressure on him though. He seems relaxed in all the fights.

After that you have Tsubaki who is a really sickly child. She has had to endure a lot thanks to her psycho parents and now she has a crazy strong servant. Her servant is essentially darkness incarnate and has the ability to create an entire mirror world. Tsubaki’s story has to be the saddest one here though. She’s not old enough to even understand what is happening and was thrown into this war against her will. You just want her to be able to get out of this situation but the grail war makes that difficult. Her servant is also confusing with the different forms that he has. Certainly a strong force but he may not be as evil as he looks because his abilities are really based on emotions. The stronger the emotions, the stronger he gets. I may not have him as high up as the top tier servants but one on one he can handle a lot of them.

Then there is the chief of police, Orlando. He is one of the more heroic masters as he wants to put an end to this grail war and restore peace to the city. We don’t really know what his wish is though. We do know that his sense of justice is quite extreme and he likely has no qualms with the death penalty. His version of saving the world may not work out for everyone but we’ll see how that goes. Unfortunately he got saddled with an extremely weak servant and doesn’t seem to have any real chance of winning the grail war. It’s probably the most unfair part of the event which is that some servants are simply very inferior to others. This isn’t a war where you can hope to win without a good one.

His servant is Shakespeare and his abilities are rather vague. He can write things which come true and can power up other fighters through his language. He seems good at gathering intel and so if you have a lot of foot soldiers then you can power them all up. The problem is that a human with a great weapon is still a human. A lot of them are sent after Jester and they are all wrecked. So for all intents and purposes this is an absolutely useless ability. Casters are usually rather weak if you ask me.

Then there is Jester who is actually a vampire. The guy has great physical specs and is basically invincible against humans due to how the cosmic structure of the universe is set up. He has one of the best fights in the series and is constantly around to stir up trouble. The guy is absolutely crazy and so giving him a wish would put everyone in a tough spot. He also really want Assassin as an obsession that’s rather creepy. He makes for an imposing villain but definitely not one of those guys you can root for.

Assassin may be his servant but she wants nothing more than to murder him. It’ll be very difficult as long as he has command seals though. Her abilities also don’t seem as powerful as other servants. She can launch quick one hit KO moves but if they are evaded or blocked then she doesn’t seem to have much else. I’m sure there is some kind of a trump card that she is hiding though. These servants always seem to have some kind of a wrinkle to them. She does have a full honor code and seems more heroic than other characters though so she is easy to root for.

Then we have Flat who is a child prodigy from the magic organization. Usually he shouldn’t be involved in a war like this just yet so he managed to slip out early just to join in. The guy has a whole lot of talent with his knowledge on magic spells and the like. Unfortunately he also ends up getting a pretty bad servant like the police chief. He’s got Jack the Ripper who is decent when it comes to fighting humans but I was really unimpressed with him here. His true monster form was pretty cool though so I’ll give him that. Flat really meant well but in the end he really didn’t keep his guard up enough. That may have been part of his charm but it really came back to bite him.

As for Jack, well he seemed like a nice guy. If you can get around the fact that he was a big mass murderer back in the day, well he has mellowed out a whole lot. He has a good relationship with Flat, I’d even say they are one of the best master/servant duos in that respect. If we are rating the groups on manners then these two would be near the top. Ultimately it wasn’t quite enough to translate into wins though.

Sigma is one of the weaker humans and he seems to have a weak servant so that’s pretty rough. He grew up as a child soldier and is essentially emotionless but the more he is involved in this grail war, the more he finally has something to fight for. He wants to end this cycle of mindless carnage and at least has a chance to do that now. He’s another character who is easy to root for even if it feels like he’s a longshot to win. At least he does have a solid alliance with other fighters who could help him to swing the odds here.

Bazdilot is one of the more openly antagonistic masters here. The guy seems as shady as it gets and he went out of his way to make sure that his servant was giving in to his dark emotions. This guy is a real fighter and may be one of the strongest masters in terms of overall ability. It’s not like he will be taking any servants on but at least he can take the opposing master out of the running right away. I’d also say that he has one of the most powerful servants without a doubt.

Alcides looks incredibly impressive throughout the show. His bow and arrow combo is much harder to dodge than it looks and each hit really has a ton of power behind it. Going at him the wrong way will definitely lead to certain defeat. He has begun to rack up some serious injuries though so we’ll see if his master has enough mana to sustain him. We did see a whole lab that was built for this though so the preparation is there. Bazdilot has probably done the best preparation work for this out of any fighter except for maybe Faldeus.

We don’t actually know all of the masters yet though. For example True Rider has a master somewhere but we don’t know who that is yet. Her role in this season was also incredibly short as she basically just gets one fight and then vanishes out of there. We’ll see how she does in the next season but her stats didn’t seem super impressive. If anything she appeared to be one of the weaker servants at face value.

Faldeus is fun to watch because he’s basically a government lackey who learned about magic. As a result he has access to the army and can shoot someone down at the drop of a hat. The average master isn’t going to be able to do much against a barrage of bullets and he makes use of this at several moments. He’s still unable to predict every action and is thrown for a loop more than once but is generally in control of things. He has yet to really start fighting in this war and we barely even know who his servant is. Faldeus had better hope that he has a strong one.

Francesca is a fun wild card because she actually went and summoned herself. You’d almost think that can’t be allowed but hey that’s the perk of basically being immortal. She has one of the catchiest tunes as well and just works as a great troll throughout the series. She really enjoys making life harder on everybody else. I don’t see how illusions can win this war though so ultimately she is probably doomed.

Another girl is thrown into this war near the end and her servant is a giant golem. For now they haven’t gotten to do much yet since they were added into the game late. The golem has a super powerful laser but doesn’t seem very mobile so I could see that being a big weakness. The girl isn’t really a fighter but she has a fairy god-mother watching over her so that helps a lot. Ishtar is someone that you want on your side.

Ishtar is someone who isn’t technically a part of the grail war but she’s really not letting that stop her. She was quick to launch her own attacks and take advantage of Gilgamesh’s carelessness. Additionally she mentioned that a temple had been set up so now her powers are growing even more. I have pretty high hopes for her. A powerful wild card like this is just what the grail war needed to get even more chaotic. Also she’s just a lot of fun.

Hansa also makes for a good priest. He may not be the most iconic one in the series but he is a great fighter and even held his own against Hansa for quite a long while. That’s not an easy thing to do at all. That’s even accounting for the fact that Hansa doesn’t take things too seriously. Whenever there is a human who can fight, that gets pretty exciting. I can’t give John the same acclaim since things didn’t go well for him at first. I am curious how his current powered up form will fare in future battles though. He has the right spirit at least. There are a few more characters but this accounts for all of the big ones. I am sure we will meet quit a few new ones in the next season.

While most of this tends to be in combat, I would note that the series can definitely be a bit more on the violent side. These guys are all playing for keeps after all so you’ve got quite a few people getting taken out by bullets and stabs. One character is shot over 100 times as the enemies wanted to make sure that he would stand down. Tsubaki’s origin is pretty grim as well even if it really isn’t on screen all that much. Fate always tends to cut loose a bit although this one isn’t all that crazy compared to some of their previous works. Generally speaking it’s within the realm of what you’d expect for a big action title.

Overall, This was definitely an excellent title. It has strong replay value to each episode to the point where you can rewatch an episode almost immediately after watching it. The visuals are stunning and I dare say this may be the best grail war yet. We’ll see if it can stick the landing though. It is often way easier to set the stage and introduce a bunch of character than it is to actually end the conflict in a satisfying way. As long as there is no cop out and we get an actual winner then I should be fine. Cop outs are the main thing that would just get annoying here because I want to see an actual winner. Hopefully the gap before season 2 isn’t too crazy this time but with Fate you never know.

Overall 8/10

Kaiju No. 8 Review

Posted on May 9, 2026 by dreager1

Kaiju No. 8 is one of those titles that really took the world by storm. It was a manga that promised to bring in a whole lot of action and Kaiju throughout. Well, I can definitely say that the title delivers on that with nonstop action throughout the series. At the same time, I can understand why some fans were a bit disappointed. If you really enjoyed the opening chapters about Kafka being a part of the cleanup crew and learning how to master his powers, then that was a different series. Me personally? I prefer having high octane action shows so this was more up my alley.

The series begins by introducing us to Kafka who has always wanted to join the defense force. He has the drive for it but unfortunately lacks the skill or the energy for it. Kafka flunks out every year and is forced to stick around as one of the monster cleaners. He comes in after the heroes have beaten the Kaiju and just does his best to get the remains off the street. Well, one day a mini Kaiju goes inside of him and Kafka becomes Kaiju No. 8. Kafka passes the exam this time and can finally fight alongside his childhood friend. Can he keep his new status as a Kaiju secret from the rest of the team or is he absolutely doomed?

The idea of an older main character certainly appealed to folks because it does feel like most of the big action series are about kids or teens. Well, it doesn’t really end up being a big factor here since Kafka acts like a teenager anyway. He certainly has a fun time goofing off but when the villains show up, Kafka is able to lock in. I would say that he’s a good main character even if he may not stand out a whole lot. Essentially he is the kind of character who will make the right decisions and get out there for the fights. He wants to protect his friends and will defy orders in order to accomplish that objective.

In a way his not standing out matches the series a bit where some would say that this one is just a generic battle Shonen by the end. I would say to a large degree that’s true but the execution is really good so that makes up for it. There’s nothing wrong with being generic as long as you’re fun and that’s the approach that Kaiju No. 8 is going for. The art is also really good for this series and that makes a difference. You can feel each hit and there are a ton of memorable shots here. The series is absolutely at its best during the action scenes but the artwork stays consistently good throughout.

Partially because of all the nonstop fighting, the character cast is rather small for a 16 volume series. There are a bunch of side characters running around as part of the Kaiju company of course but in terms of characters who get a real role, well that never expands too much. Perhaps it’s a good thing, this gave us more time for battles after all. Additionally, there are only so many times you can give someone a new Kaiju weapon without it feeling excessive. Anyone without a Kaiju ability was rendered powerless by the end so they would have gotten power creeped out of there anyway.

Reno is a prodigy for example but the limits of the human body are far too low to really give a Kaiju a tough fight. I should differentiate between numbered Kaiju and standard ones though. Standard monsters can absolutely be defeated as they usually are by the company. It just so happens as this series starts that a big villain known as Kaiju No. 9 has been amping them all up to new heights. If not for that then things would be different. We went from having one super Kaiju in 10 years to suddenly having over 7 in one shot.

So Reno is one of the fighters who ends up having to use an experimental Kaiju weapon. While it is not as impressive as Hoshina’s, I would say that it’s pretty good. Reno’s is ice based so he is able to freeze his opponents and keep on fighting. He never quite caught up to Kafka but at least this way he isn’t a liability on the battlefield or anything like that. Reno is able to hold his own and he’s a nice guy in general. His character archetype in these titles doesn’t always get to contribute a lot so this was nice to see.

Kikoru is the main heroine here. Some would argue that Mina takes the role but Kikoru absolutely gets more screentime. At first she has fun mocking Kafka and his efforts but gradually begins to respect him as a father figure. She is the greatest rookie to ever join the defense force and we find out that her parents were both influential figures. In a way she was born for this role and certainly has no problems living up to the hype. Even before she gets a super weapon, Kikoru was dominating fighters left and right. By the time she does get a power up, Kikoru is easily one of the strongest fighters in the series.

She ends up fighting one of the best villains as well so that worked out. In general she has a fun personality. I always like the fiery characters who can banter with the villains. She’s not here to make friends or negotiate with the villains. Kikoru definitely did her mother proud. Her mom only appears in flashbacks but we see how she was also a living legend in her days. With virtually no backup she was able to deal quite a blow to the opposing Kaijus.

Kikoru’s father Isao also gets a decent role although it was a bit smaller than I would have expected. He is a really gruff guy and believes that justice has to be tough sometimes. He pushes this to such an extent that I considered him to be more of a villain throughout the series. Easily the lesser of two evils compared to the Kaiju but anyone who would so quickly sentence his allies to death is definitely not a hero. He has the power to back up his sharp rules though and could have taken out nearly anyone in the series. It’s really impressive how well he did against No. 9 even while he was so much older. If Isao had been in his prime, then he probably would have won.

Gen is yet another prodigy on the hero side. You already see how many prodigies we have right? This is why you couldn’t expand the cast too much farther because the word would probably lose its meaning after a while. Well, Gen can use his eyes to read opponent weak spots as well as almost predict what their next action will be. He has a lazy persona which is the only thing that keeps him from rising up the government ranks. It’s not really something that Gen is interested in anyway though. He just wants to destroy Kaiju and being a platoon leader allows him to really do that without having to hold anything back.

This guy ended up being one of my favorite characters in the series. It may seem at odds with how I typically enjoy characters who are super gung-ho and ready to fight but I do enjoy the lazy ones as well when they are justified with it. If Gen was weak then he would likely end up being a bad character. So he is walking a fine line but that’s just something that will always come with the territory of being this kind of character.

He is rivals with Hoshina who is….another prodigy! Usually it is unheard of to try and fight a Kaiju without a gun but that is exactly what Hoshina does. He relies on his short blades and just tears into them. This requires him to have a great amount of speed and piercing power. A few good hits could take him out of commission permanently. It’s a high stress kind of fighting style and there are probably very few fighters who would have the sheer talent needed to support this kind of style. He does his best to train Kafka and is a good right hand man to Mina.

Hoshina tends to be very serious so the series did a good thing by pairing him up with a very talkative Kaiju. This leads to a whole lot of banter from both sides and it ends up being a fun dynamic. It’s not a dynamic that we get to have around for very long since the series is already starting to wrap up by then but it was still nice to see. Hoshina was one of the first big fighters to appear in the series and he actually remains relevant throughout the whole run.

His boss is Mina who also serves as the goal post for Kafka. She fights using a powerful sniper rifle. Her sheer amount of power means that she can effectively take out a Kaiju from any distance. It does feel like this limits her a bit in battle though because there are only so many ways you can draw her shooting at an opponent. It isn’t like a handgun where she can fire on the go. This one has her stay in one place to ready the giant gun and fire it. For this reason the final arc lets her fight without the gun briefly to remind us that she is a well rounded fighter too. Until that point though, she ends up feeling a bit one note.

While we are told continuously that she is stronger than Hoshina and most of the other characters, you just have a hard time buying into that because of how she doesn’t get to show off her physical abilities more. Either way she is a good character. She makes sure to give Kafka a hard time so that he continues to improve more and more while also always being ready to fight. She will surpass her limits in order to suppress casualties so it’s clear why she is a platoon captain.

There are some other fighters on the hero side but they don’t have fancy Kaiju weapons so they get left in the dust. For example we have Iharu who thinks of himself as Reno’s rival. It’s a nice thought but at the same time the gap between them is simply too vast. He would lose in an instant against Reno because he doesn’t have the speed to compete or even the firepower to put him down. This quickly becomes the case for all of the non Kaiju enhanced fighters. There really needed to be some way to have reduced the gap here.

On the villains side, Kaiju No. 9 may have set the bar too high. He shows up early on and remains as a big villain throughout the series. His whole existence implied a higher form of Kaiju would always be able to talk and strategize. Unfortunately that is dropped after the first 2-3 and then most of them end up being completely mindless. Yes, they have pretty cool designs and awesome powers but they aren’t actually talking. It was too bad because there was a lot of potential there. This also feels like something that the author walked back on because initially it definitely seemed to have been part of the plan. This is a series that needed to keep going to 20+ volumes.

No. 9 is cool but the kind of villain who overcomplicates things. The heroes only have around 5 fighters who can give him a real fight and of those, probably just 2 who have a chance at beating him. He should have attacked straight up with a bunch of his monsters. Alternately he could have picked them off. No. 9 has the ability to shapeshift and tends to appear out of nowhere. The heroes are rarely ever fully mobilized so all he has to do is gradually take them out. There would usually be something to prevent that from happening but no such concept exists here.

The heroes are the underdogs by a wide margin and the author put them in too much of a hole here. There are countless ways to put the heroes out of their misery and instead No. 9 decides to have them all mobilized and then splits up his own forces to get picked off. Definitely a terrible general when you really think about it. I suppose he still came close to winning but it wasn’t exactly due to his own abilities.

No. 10 was another fun villain. This guy liked a good fight and he is the one who ends up partnering with Hoshina. He has a lot of pride and basically acts like one of the humans. This is exactly what I was hoping for. A Kaiju who could hold his own and wasn’t just roaring all the time. He was also really powerful as Kafka had to go all out here. No. 10 does have the misfortune of being one of the first Kaiju to show up so you could make the case that he is technically weaker than most of the numbers. I dunno, he still felt stronger than most to me but it’s hard to scale since he had to fight Kafka directly.

Then we have No. 15 who ends up fighting Kikoru. She really stands out because now we had a Kaiju who not only had character and dialogue but one who was even being manipulated. No. 9 is constantly dangling the lure of parental respect in front of her and shifts the goal posts so that she is always having to keep on fighting. He doesn’t actually care about her and that’s obvious to the reader but No. 15 still hopes that this can somehow happen.

No. 15 then tries using mind games in Kikoru as well. The only other one we see doing that kind of thing is No. 9 himself. So 15 feels like she is really a higher ranked Kaiju and she is incredibly memorable thanks to the design as well. She is like a dark Kikoru. While the other Kaiju could not live up to that, it was at least good to have one more complex villain like this.

These are the scenes that just made you feel like the series had more meat left on the bone. We also have the whole mystery of the Kaiju that gave Kafka his powers and the ghost samurai. It is explained by the end but it’s a bit more on the lackluster side. I just feel like it was shoved into the ending instead of being a cool subplot. Additionally the ending immediately reverses on itself which almost defeats the purpose of the storyline they decided to go with for the samurai in general. The final chapters have quite a few twists to hit you fast and hard with lore so maybe one day we will get a full sequel series.

At the end of the day you shouldn’t think too hard about missed opportunities though. There are no “ifs ands or buts” when you finish a story. It’s all about what was actually on the page and I was still more than satisfied with what we got. This was a great story with solid action throughout and a lot of battles. The fundamentals were all sound. The series may not have the strongest cast or excel in the peace between action segments but that’s exactly why it focused on action so much. You should always play to your strengths.

Overall, Kaiju No. 8 is definitely a great title. While it may have ended rather quickly where you felt like there was a lot of met left on the table, it did still give us a ton of battles. The series also lasted a bit longer than you would have expected and the final fight in particular was really satisfying. Both fighters really would not relent and just kept on getting up over and over. I also liked the ending which could have easily gone sideways. Maybe one day we will get some kind of a sequel series here.

Overall 8/10

The Elusive Samurai Review

Posted on May 7, 2026 by dreager1

It’s time for one of those series that takes place in the really old days of constant warfare and strife. It does still have that Shonen boost though so you can expect a whole lot of big fight scenes all the way through. In theory his could have been really good but the author goes too far into trying to get some hyper realism here while at the same time also bringing in weird supernatural elements. Basically if the series could fall into some kind of hole, it did. This title hits every snag possible and definitely ends up being a title that I would not recommend.

The series begins with Tokiyuki’s family being murdered by Takauji. He runs the whole clan out of the village and assumes a position of political power. Tokiyuki aims to get revenge and restore his clan’s honor but it won’t be easy. Takauji isn’t just the most powerful man on the planet, he is also possessed by a literal demon. This demon allows him to break the minds of his opponents and perform a lot of miracles that are not humanly possible. Tokiyuki will need to take a slow burn approach on this, one that will take many years. Even if it takes his whole life, Tokiyuki will never give up!

This title made it all the way to 25 volumes which is really impressive. I should also mention that there are a ton of time skips within the series but the artist goes out of his way to make sure that none of the character designs change. So when you’re binging this visually, you don’t have to worry about the characters constantly changing even if it does mean that it can be easy to forget just how old they are.

I’ve got more negatives than positives for this series so lets go into the good things first. The artwork is pretty good. While it is often used for really explicit visuals that get crazy, the actual quality is really high up. You’re not going to see a whole lot of titles that can keep up with this one in the long term.

I’d also say that the fight scenes can be really solid. Usually they tend to get ruined by going way too far but the initial clashes are always great. There is also a lot of strategy in the battles and the army fights are done well. It may not be on the level of something like Bleach or Kenshin when it comes to the sword fights but on the whole the fights can be good.

Now on the issues, well of course first we have the ultra violence. This series just tries to push the envelope as far as possible to the point of just being super excessive. People die in all kinds of imaginative ways and in this kind of series you’re really hoping that the first blow destroys you. If you live then things are going to get many times worse for you. The constant bloodshed may remind you why the villains have to be stopped but it doesn’t help that Tokiyuki’s group has a lot of crazies as well.

I feel like there is some kind of narrative hidden within the series about how psychos will take advantage of war to legally murder people. It’s the kind of grim plot that would be right up this title’s alley. There are some good characters here but the cast as a whole is definitely one of the weaker ones. Then of course we also have a considerable amount of animal violence. It just keeps on coming and a ton of horses die throughout. It’s part of why I usually shy away from the old war titles because often times the horses are going to be casualties. Definitely ends up being a real downer.

Another issue is the crude visuals here. It’s sort of like crude humor but not really because these scenes are in no way meant to be funny. Instead it just shows you how far Takauji has fallen. His spit has mind control properties within it and this is used several times. There are so many scenes that will just have you gagging here. Yes, we do have the fart bombs from one of the ninja so there is full on crude humor here as well. Mix it all together and this is a title you won’t be forgetting but certainly not for good reasons. You won’t be able to go a volume without something messed up happening.

There’s an audience for this of course like with good ole Chainsawman which always sounds crazy in the worst ways but generally this is definitely going to be a flop for me. Your strengths as a series would have to be absolutely incredible to overcome all of this. Since the setting isn’t really my thing and the title is too down to earth for crazy DBZ style fights, the situation was not exactly in its favor. That said, the series is so messed up that it is hard to picture any change in situation really working to its favor.

Tokiyuki is definitely a weird main character with how much he loves to be chased. The guy gets all excited about it and especially enjoys when the stakes are life and death. I guess you gotta follow your passions and all. By the end of the series he is known as a really good commander and got a lot of big wins. I dare say the ending will end up being disappointing with how it all plays out but the author was more or less trying to follow the plot of the real events. I’d say he just did it with broad strokes.

Tokiyuki also showed some indecision in the series with how he could not pick one heroine. Whenever that happens it definitely makes you shake your head. I know things were different back then but it’s not the biggest consolation that you can have. Even by the end of the series Tokiyuki isn’t the strongest fighter but his speed really comes in handy. He is able to really hold his own just thanks to that attribute. It’s why I always say that speed is so important. I never ended up becoming a big fan of this guy but at least he did have some solid moments in the series.

As for the final boss Takauji, he has a large presence throughout the series. His crazy gimmick is that he likes to pretend to panic and act like a coward when he is secretly at the top of the foodchain. This guy has plans without plans and so the heroes always have to try and keep their guards up. The series gives him a bit of a cop out by the end although there is a qualifier to it so I appreciated that. I certainly didn’t like Takauji even as a villain because he was too all over the place but I can definitely say that I respected his power. You could throw the whole main cast at him and 9 times out of 10 he would defeat them.

They were all normal humans going up against someone who could take on whole armies with his willpower alone. The series wrote itself into a bit of a hole with how strong they made him. Even by the end a lot of plot armor was needed but the series did try here. None of the other villains ever get close to this guy’s level but that’s always how it was going to be. The series really revolves around Tokiyuki and Takauji, with all the side characters doing their best to help out.

Yorishige serves as the mentor role for the lead. He has the ability to see the future and even has vague cosmic powers. This guy really ends up bailing Tokiyuki out of trouble on more than one occasion. Without him, things would have certainly been darker. While he technically misses out on a good chunk of the series, he remained as one of the more memorable characters. Naturally the series couldn’t resist making him a bit weird as well and the jokes there tend to get old quick. This isn’t really a series that is going to leave you laughing the whole time.

Shizuku takes over as the cosmic fighter for the second half of the series. She is in a tough spot though because she is supposed to try and remain emotionless and ready for any challenge. At the same time she fell in love with Tokiyuki so that makes it difficult for her to live up to this. It would have been good if she could have been more honest about her feelings at an earlier point but better late than never. She is one of the supporting characters who actually ended up being fun all the way through.

Nezu is also a solid character and the main muscle of the army. He is a total prodigy who has been able to fight at a high level ever since he was a child. He is fairly young for a good portion of the first arcs after all and only gets stronger from there. His weakness is in his physical strength which makes sense. He has biological limits no matter how skilled his actual swordplay was. This guy just has no real asterisks, no annoying gimmicks that hurt him or anything like that. So that really helped put a feather in his cap.

Ayako is a strong heroine and I mean that quite literally as the series shows her raw power to be downright inhuman. She can be a bit more awkward than some of the other characters but always tries her best. She is another character who likes Tokiyuki which is something she has to deal with while still entering the front lines every time. I thought she was a pretty solid character in the end. Out of the 3 main heroines she would technically be in last but at least it’s fairly relative.

Genba is a thief who helps Tokiyuki quite a lot throughout the series. He always likes to hide his true expertise under a mask of jokes and comedy. A fairly effective strategy if you ask me. That being said, he could get a bit old at times. Usually it feels like he is just buying time for the main characters to get ready. He’s super useful in a war and someone that you want on your team but as a character he is far from being one of the more entertaining ones.

Fubuki has to be one of the more tragic characters. He goes through a whole lot of strife and turmoil at every corner. The poor guy had to be experimented on and basically had his mind broken. Sure he gets to finally be himself at the very end but you wouldn’t want to have to go through that for any price. The villains who messed with even try to have a mini redemption arc. Not to turn good but basically saying “No hard feelings right?”. The whole thing is swept under the rug way too quickly. I did think that he was a really fun character though. The heroes had desperately needed another fighter in the group as well.

Natsu is Genba’s partner in the story. Initially she was a spy for the villain side but finally came around and became one of the better ninja in the group. By the time she joins it is fairly deep into the series though so I wouldn’t be expecting her to be getting a huge role or anything like that. Still, no complaints on this end. I’d say she was one of the stronger supporting characters.

Shina had a really tough time of things as she took on some fierce injuries. Eventually she was able to fight again with the help of some sword legs. It’s hard to imagine just how difficult it would be to walk around like that but she actually managed to pull it off. Her role isn’t super large but she does end up being a fun character as well. Finally we have Mima who join in as one of the main heroines. The fact that she can actually fight is a big W although she naturally gets weaker the instant that she becomes a good guy. It just seems to be something that happens inevitably to characters when they switch sides. She is also forced to share Tokiyuki which is not exactly a great honor. Either you are the only special one or you’re just another one of the allies.

Tadayoshi is Takuji’s brother and ends up being one of the biggest villains. He may not have a demon power at his disposal or a great amount of physical strength in general but makes up for it with intelligence and strategy. He is always doing his best to stay two steps ahead and is the one guy that Takuji actually listens to. Deep down Tadayoshi knows that he could be betrayed at any moment though. His loyalty runs deep in spite of this.

Sadamune is a villain with incredible archery abilities. His eyes also let him see a great deal in an instant. The villains all seem to have super abilities like this but this is probably the most tame one. Yes, being able to see well is really useful but it’s not on the same level as super strength or anything like that. This guy actually had a real large amount of respect for the main character. They may have been enemies but sometimes you just like to find a strong rival.

Interestingly the heroes also had an expert archer in Kitabatake. This guy could definitely hold his own and was a real inspirational figure on the hero side. I can’t say that I abided his methods though. He essentially believed that might makes right. As long as his men were taking their opponents down, it was not a problem that they were all so murderous the whole time. I fundamentally tend to disagree with this even in the context of war. In particular there was one berserker on his team who was always itching to murder people as violently as possible.

You always want to be careful that you aren’t becoming as bad as the villains. Granted, in this series that would be really difficult. You have a horse monster who is super crazy and then Nagao who was basically an emotionless killing machine. The villains had lots of crazies among their roster although surprisingly they didn’t tend to kill each other off too often. Their underlings though? Yeah they tend to dry in droves throughout this series! It is definitely not the kind of position you want to have here because odds are that you won’t survive it. One villain even starts throwing his own minions at the heroes like rockets.

There are more characters but this handles most of the main ones. The series does involve a lot of nonstop battles amidst the war so you’d think that would make it an instant winner. Instead it reminds you why a series still needs to succeed in the fundamentals. If you abandon those then you really don’t have a chance. I will always give the series credit for lasting so long but ultimately it is going to be near the bottom of the Shonen Jump barrel.

Overall, The Elusive Samurai was not the next Kenshin. If you want a good sword series in the modern day then I hear that Kagurabachi is really good. Otherwise you just need to wait until the next Bleach sequel comes out. The anime could elevate this series by toning things down. It seemed like season 1 was content to go hard but some of the stuff in the manga is so intense that you assume it has to be toned down somewhat. I suppose we’ll find out one way or the other as things move forward.

Overall 2/10

Saint Seiya: Rerise of Poseidon Review

Posted on May 3, 2026 by dreager1

This is one of those mini series that feels random but still manages to be hype all the way. The fact that it takes place after the Hades arc is excellent as opposed to it being one of those flashback arcs. This is a chance to finally see some events right after the main series and for that reason it makes sense that Poseidon and his crew are main characters here since Seiya and the gang are not available at the moment. The series ended with 20 chapters which is a nice round number and that works well for a mini series.

The series starts with Hades waking Poseidon up from his slumber and declaring that the god will need to protect Earth for a little while. The goddess Nemesis has decided that she wants to destroy Earth and she has already started creating natural disasters around the planet. Poseidon calls in his faithful Mariners to take her down but she has a group of fighters on her side as well. This is going to be a true battle of gods but time is not on Poseidon’s side. Can he hope to keep up against Nemesis while most of his power is still being sealed by Athena?

One thing I will say about this series that isn’t really a complement is that it’s very formulaic. This feels like the classic Seiya where everybody splits up and fights their opponent. Most of the fights follow the same structure where the hero gets absolutely dominated for a while, then we see the villain’s origin story. After that, we get the hero’s origin story and they get a big power up before winning the fight. There is some variety in the other of the origin stories but that’s about it. So while it’s still hype to see the actual battles, you always tend to know what’s about to happen.

In that respect, things get more interesting once they make it to Nemesis herself. Then the series can have fun messing with the natural order of things and all of the characters begin some fresh battles. Of course by then the series is just about over so that’s the one drawback. I do think the series managed to cover a lot of ground in just 20 chapters though. The chapters tend to be fairly long and filled with action. The series managed to cover a whole lot of origins in that time while also introducing a lot of characters. That takes a good amount of skill. While the writer does have a bit of a bad habit of making a ton of characters all talk and act similar, the origins help to diffuse this a bit. At least they are all put in really different circumstances.

Sorrento was never my favorite Mariner and I feel like the flute really put him at a disadvantage. It’s just not nearly as impressive a weapon as the fighters who use their fists to put everyone into submission. Yes, Sorrento’s flute seems to work on most of the fighters but when it fails, it goes really badly for him. I give him props for deciding to fight even when his opponent was a girl because some of the other fighters were not so practical.

His opponent Musicaterpsich has a really complicated name. Her illusions were fun like with how she summoned Andromeda. Of course I would say this was another lucky break for Sorrento. A physical type of adversary would have crushed him pretty thoroughly. At least illusions are something that you are able to successfully fight with music. She was a solid fighter even if she probably won’t be remembered a whole lot.

Poseidon looks pretty good here. He’s a reasonable guy and does save his fighters more than once. He takes a more active role than Athena. For example one of the villains sends his opponents to a parallel universe where they are living a normal life. Poseidon ends up having to step in personally to save them and I thought that was a really nice touch. He wasn’t going to just let them figure it out. Then he does get his own fight by the end. It all helps him to feel more like a real character and not some figurehead. He’s still not as cool as Hades but the series helped him.

Cadmos is a real beast because he had to take on two of the Mariners at once. He’s hardly the last to do it but he was the first to go on a 2 v 1. It’s also impressive since Kanon is easily the most powerful one. I like this guy’s design and he’s a really powerful fighter. He also has a very tragic backstory like the rest of the enemies. Ultimately there weren’t many ways out for the guy and as strong as he is, I don’t think anyone thought he could ultimately take Kanon down.

Kanon is having a tough time of it throughout the series because he still blames himself for what happened in the Poseidon arc. His lust for power is confusing him and the villains make sure to try and use this against him with visions of Gemini Saga. Kanon even gets beat up by his teammates but this does lead to a full character arc and by the end they have really recognized him as a true teammate. Kanon is a lot of fun to watch and so this was pretty satisfying.

Caca is still the last impressive member of the team. This series tries to rehabilitate the character a little bit but it feels rather half hearted. This is still not the guy that you want watching your back at all. He’s just not going to fight as well and no amount of power ups can help to change that. At least he helped Kanon but that’s all I can say for him.

Krishna is a pretty strong guy who has a legendary defense. As with the rest of the Mariners he is on the back foot for a good chunk of the fight until he gets his power up. He’s definitely a fun character and while you could say that a lot of the characters are written very similarly, it doesn’t take away from him being solid. Perhaps now he could actually give Virgo Shaka a solid fight. It was nice to see his origin here as well as most of the other Mariners.

His opponent Alis was a lot of fun because in a way he was like Pegasus Seiya. This guy was the original Pegasus Knight from legend and has the stats to back it up. I did like the gimmick that the villains were the actual heroes from legends as opposed to being reincarnations or anything like that. It adds a bit of an extra spark to the fights as a whole and keeps things fresh. Alis ended up being my favorite from the big villains.

Baian gets the shaft here a bit compared to the other Mariners. He has to share his opening fight which doesn’t go very well and after that he’s around with the rest of the team for their big wins. He does still have a proper fight but doesn’t stand out as much. I guess he just didn’t have a big character arc unlike most of the others. He’s still solid but feels more like the muscle of the group despite not being the strongest.

In comparison Isaak gets some more memories of his time with Hyoga and Camus. The guy has the most rage against Kanon for his betrayal and just oozes personality in all of his scenes. This guy is pretty central to the plot and it does make him cooler as a result. I just like when you have a character who gets to really show out like this. His design is also really awesome with how they handled the eye scar. Reminds me of Cable from X-Men.

Their opponent Aeneas is also one of the most impressive fighters. Not only does he instantly defeat his two opponents to the point where Poseidon had to bail them out but throughout the fight he had the advantage here. He just kept on getting stronger and stronger until he eventually fell. Ultimately it’s hard to keep up with Saints and Mariners forever since their strength levels are infinite but this guy really put up a great fight.

Then we get the final main challenger in Pollux. This guy is easily one of the strongest fighters in the series. He was able to handle several Mariners and just kept on getting up no matter how many attacks were thrown his way. He was the son of Zeus so it makes sense that his abilities would be high. Just when you think he’s down, he gets back up again. The guy has nonstop confidence and the power to back it up. I was definitely a pretty big fan by the end.

As for Nemesis, well she is a solid villain. We get her origin story about how her best friend Iustitia ended up sympathizing with the Pegasus knight of her time and this caused a lot of chaos. Nemesis had to take a big punishment from Zeus and even then it wasn’t enough to keep their friendship. Iustitia lost everything and Nemesis vowed revenge on the saints. It took her a long while but now in the present she is finally ready. I will say that the Pegasus from the past was really cool. He was able to complete many trials that seemed absolutely impossible to get through and yet nothing would stop him. He was a really good first generation of Pegasus saint before Seiya would show up.

Nemesis does go pretty crazy by the end though. You understand why after the flashback but it’s still not a great look for her. If she had only kept her composure and actually helped her fighters then they probably would have beaten the Mariners. Of course, most main villains don’t actually help so it’s not like she is the first to ditch her fighters. That’s just how it goes most of the time so the heroes have time to get their power ups in.

The artwork is definitely really good and looks just like the original series. The fights are intense and the power ups are all very dramatic. The series can randomly get pretty violent at times like when Pollux was ripped apart. That was an absolutely crazy scene. In some ways because it’s less detailed, it doesn’t feel as bad as other modern titles but it really comes out of nowhere. Needless to say, this is the kind of series that may startle you here and there.

Overall, This was a really fun spinoff. I liked how it actually kept the story going and wasn’t some random side story that won’t matter. This one can in theory be mentioned in the future and have some ramifications. I may be getting my hopes up too high there but at least there is a chance. It also shows how fleshed out the world is where you don’t even need Seiya and pals in order for this to be a big success. If you haven’t checked it out yet, then I definitely recommend changing that. There’s basically nonstop action the whole time and these are basically DBZ characters with their crazy amounts of power.

Overall 8/10

Sword Art Online Progressive: Scherzo of Deep Night Review

Posted on May 2, 2026 by dreager1

It’s time for a quick Sword Art Online adventure. Of course that means Kirito gets to take the center stage once more so that’s always fun. I thought that going back to the classic days of Sword Art Online was a brilliant decision but it’s a shame that it takes so long for these titles to come out. I want them to adapt all the floors already! Well, in the meantime this is definitely a fun title although it is held back quite a lot by the random fanservice thrown in. The series is quite shameless when it comes to this area which is too bad.

The mini series starts with Asuna challenging Kirito but she is taken down very quickly. This discourages her quite a lot since the gap should not be quite this big. What she lacks is confidence more than skill. It’s hard to just obtain that though and Kirito is no help since he has always been able to show up in the big moments. Asuna will have to just try to keep on moving forward. Unfortunately there appears to be a weird underground group that is trying to stir up tensions between the two big armies in the Sword Art Online world. Everyone is stuck in this death game until it is cleared so who would be causing trouble like this?

Kirito and Asuna spend part of the volume trying to get to the bottom of this mystery while also just hanging out and making memories. They visit a nice cafe for drinks and even collect some treasure. At this point they have a solid amount of trust between the two of them but it isn’t absolute yet. A good example of this is when Kirito decides to head off into the caverns alone to deal with the villains instead of bringing Asuna along. Kirito says all the right things but it comes down to him not trusting her enough to be a part of that fight without slowing him down.

Sure enough, it wasn’t Asuna’s best moment as she allows herself to be disarmed which grants the villains a powerful weapon but she does make up for the blunder. Asuna also gets to fight against Argo one on one which was pretty fun. I would have expected Asuna to have done better but I suppose this was pretty early on in her career. Give it a few more months and Asuna would easily be claiming victory here.

While Asuna does panic a lot, she is definitely better than in the last volume. She blew up at Kirito way too many times in that one and just didn’t seem as mature as she should be given the circumstances. In this volume, while she panics in dangerous situations a bit, at least you can see the improvement and character growth. She is gradually gaining more confidence.

Meanwhile Kirito looks great as always. He was absolutely not going to let the villains get away with their plans and found a way to manipulate both sides into doing what he needed them to. It wasn’t a solo effort as Argo helped a lot with the information and they both had allies to help. Kirito is just the guy with enough ability to make it all work together. He is completely indispensable in that area. I’d have liked to see him take the two saboteurs down himself though. In every encounter there was some kind of extenuating circumstance that prevented a true fight.

With 3 volumes there isn’t too much time f a lot of adventure but they squeezed in a good amount of Kirito and Asuna bonding moments. Additionally the whole third volume is for the floor boss which was a good decision because that boss as really intense. I really enjoyed the theme that he got in the movie and the manga definitely makes him an imposing figure as well. So the manga’s final volume really flies by. The pacing is super fast and you can’t go wrong with nonstop action. The enemy is rather huge so there isn’t a lot of hand to hand action this time around. Think of it more as a platforming challenge as Kirito and the others have to keep jumping around and trying to dodge all of the blows.

Now like I mentioned before, the fanservice does hurt the series quite a bit here. This would be an easy 7-8 just for the fun action and all but the constant fanservice does knock it down a few pegs. It’s not as extreme as the last one but does keep this as being in the middle as a passable series rather than being a good one all the way. It’s a shame that every Sword Art Online product seems to have an asterisk next to what would otherwise be known as an incredible adventure. At least we have a video game coming up which shouldn’t run into that problem.

In some ways the series s also going to be a bit limited in what they can add in the early floors. We already know that Laughing Coffin will turn out to be the name of the organization to which the two saboteurs are a part of. I’m looking forward to the big war since that is generally off screen in the Aincrad story. That said, you can’t really add a rival to Kirito and there aren’t too many humans you can add without dramatically changing the tone of the series. So we’ll see what they do to keep the ideas fresh as we go through the series but a part of me doesn’t think we’ll ever even make it to the 10th floor so it’s probably a non issue.

The artwork is really good here, I think it has improved from the last one. The action scenes are really sharp and there is always a lot of detail here. Naturally that does backfire when you have some of the fanservice moments since less detail would be good there but this doesn’t feel like some kind of cash-in/tie-in manga. It feels like a legit adventure so I appreciate the effort there. The pacing is good and it’s definitely a reminder of how much you can get done in a 3 volume series.

I’ll also give a quick nod to Kirito and Asuna still being one of the few pairings that actually works. The shipping is done well and this is the kind of slow burn style that I like to see. The characters are taking their time and so you get to really believe in the bond between them. I enjoy the banter and they never take it too far. Their personalities are also quite different and just work together. I guess what I’m saying is that this romance really works in every possible way and I imagine that is where a lot of the appeal for the Progressive series comes from. It’s a chance to see the two of them hanging out a lot without the constant end of the world stakes from the main arcs.

Overall, I can’t fully recommend this one but it is a cool novelty to see Kirito and Asuna fight. The outcome may be obvious from the start but it doesn’t make the experience any less entertaining. Hopefully next time we can get a longer battle though as this one ends almost instantly. You’ll finish the volume wanting more Sword Art adventures which shows that this one did a good job on the intrigue at least. Stay tunes for the next manga title!

Overall 5/10

Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos Review

Posted on April 30, 2026 by dreager1

Fullmetal Alchemist is known as one of the greatest manga and anime titles of all time. No matter what circle you’re in, people talk about this series with a great amount of reverence. Would the movie really be able to live up to such a high reputation? Well, I thought it was a really solid one, I’d say another great addition to the franchise. Now personally, I thought there was quite a lot of action in the title but apparently that’s not the main view. It may not be a ton of punch, punch scenes but there’s always a lot going on. Mix that in with a good story and I’d say that we’re in a good place here.

The series starts with a crook escaping just like in episode one of Brotherhood. Just like with that instance, Edward and Alphonse are clowned by the villain as he escapes. They are then roped into what will be one of the more intricate political problems they have had to deal with. Surely it’s not as bad as finding out that the leader of your country is a biological monster trying to destroy the world right? So they follow a clue into a small country/land that has fallen into ruin. It has the unfortunate luck of being right in the middle of two larger countries which are always fighting each other.

All of the spillover damage constantly ravages this place and its people. They cannot escape either as neither country will allow them passage. So everything sucks down there and it comes as no surprise that this has fueled a bunch of terrorist/resistance fighters. You have one group that wants to liberate the country by picking a side and another that wants to take both of them down. Naturally the former is more realistic but how do you choose? There aren’t a lot of easy answers here and even by the end of the film you can’t say that the situation is resolved. Ed and Alphonse do their best and the film does try to have an optimistic ending but it depends how much you buy into it.

The film is fairly long which is a good thing because there is definitely a whole lot of story going on here. I will say right off the bat that they do a pretty good job of keeping things interesting. Ordinarily you don’t want to be adding a bunch of original characters and making the whole film based on them. Naruto in particular always got a lot of shots taken at it for having the classic princess of the week at every turn. Well, at least in this one the characters are very memorable and have a lot of motivations so it works.

I’ll get into the characters in a second but first I will warn you that Ed and Alphonse look pretty weak as always. That’s nothing new since they lose a ton of fights in the main series as well. For that reason I wasn’t really torn up about that. It would be one thing if they looked out of character or something but looking weak isn’t a really big deal. I was disappointed that Roy doesn’t get any on screen fights this time though. I get that he’s a bit overpowered but cmon, at least show the fire abilities off a little bit. The fact that he gets a fight and it’s off screen is even more puzzling than if he didn’t have any fights.

The animation is really smooth and looks top tier as you would expect. I definitely have no issues with the film on that front. You’ve come to expect nothing less from the series by this point though. Then we have the soundtrack which is decent. I wouldn’t say anything to write home about but it works well enough. So the technical effects are as good as needed.

Now as for the characters. First we have Melvin who is a wanted fugitive. Seems like your classic brawler type but he gets several plot twists in the film. On the surface he just wants to save his sister Julia and get her out of this war torn territory. Seems nice enough minus the violence but it’s not like he really has a whole lot of legal options here since all the governments are against him. Naturally the guy starts to go more and more off the rails as the film goes on. He is absolutely and unapologetically a villain all the way through, nothing ambiguous here.

You could say that he gets a little overconfident though. Honestly the plan wasn’t bad and he got super close to victory. Once he was in reach of the stone, he shouldn’t have been stopped so easily. Although in the original series I also thought that the Philosopher’s stone wasn’t quite as impressive as it was cracked up to be. Yes, it does allow you to do alchemy with no penalty or sacrifice but Ed can already do it without seals. As for the whole equivalent exchange part, there is always something on hand so it doesn’t feel like a big penalty.

We still do get a nice fight at the end though so that was nice. Meanwhile Julia is sort of dragged around the place with everyone wanting her on their side but I was glad that she was standing up for herself by the end. She ultimately chose to help the resistance and wasn’t going to let herself be misled in the meantime. I do feel like the heroes guilt tripped her a bit about the stone though. I get not wanting to create a stone since you need to sacrifice souls to it. 100% on board there. However, once it has already been created, I feel like you may as well use it. Try to build a better tomorrow with it instead of just breaking it. Ultimately the situation evolves to a point where she has no choice but the heroes are way too hesitant about using it.

Then we have Herschel who feels like he didn’t think things through nearly as well as the others. My main problem with him is that the guy feels a bit abrupt in his scenes by the end. He just shows up out of nowhere and while that can work in theory, I just have a hard time seeing his end game play out. Even if Ed and Al weren’t there to stop him, he doesn’t have enough allies to make a big difference. The guy just came off as super crazy and the first villain was a lot more interesting.

Overall, I had a good time with this film though. There were definitely a lot of moving pieces with how many factions were running around. You had werewolves, the armies, etc. If you are looking forward to Ed and Alphonse dominating then this film isn’t for you, but otherwise I would say this is a strong all around title. It’s the kind of film that is pretty accessible even if you’re not familiar with the series because of how detailed the world building here is. You could even use it as a pilot and then watch the main series with how similar the start and setup is to the first episode.

Overall 8/10

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